Thanksgiving Special: Redwall Edition
by Randomstorywryter
Summary: Redwall...home of Martin the Warrior, Gonff the Mousethief, and enormous feasts. What more could a thanksgiving special need?


A gentle, cold Autumn breeze flowed through Mossflower, coming across the great Abbey of Redwall and chilling anybeast who happened to be outside. On cold days such as that one, however, few creatures were outside, though from all of the smoke and steam that was coming from the kitchen chimneys, quite a few creatures were working in the kitchen.

One of the few creatures who was outside, the resident abbey mousewarrior, barely noticed the cold. This was less about his resistance to low temperatures and more about his constant motion. He was pacing on the walltops.

He wore a simple, thick habit to ward off the cold, along with a cowled cloak that was draped over his shoulders. His belt was made of nothing more than a simple piece of leather wrapped around his waist.

He was tall, broad shouldered, and sculpted, though his muscular build was hidden quite well by his habit. He was handsome, ruddy, and he had strong, dark, storm-grey eyes.

He normally had a bright smile, a ready laugh, and a quick wit, though none of these were ever mirrored in his eyes. Today, however, his brow was furrowed in worry, and that worry was reflected in his eyes. He paced in circles, glancing out at the path every so often, constantly muttering to himself: "When will they get here? They were supposed to make it here hours ago. I hope they're all right. Seasons, they'd better be all right, or I'll...I'll..." He shook his head vigorously, venting his nervousness as frustration.

Another mouse, shorter and chubbier than the warrior, climbed up the wallsteps and stopped next to him. "Matey, you need to get down from here and come indoors. It's too cold out here."

"Gonff, I can't. I have to be up here. What if they come and I'm not here to let them in?"

Gonff sighed. "Martin, nobeast knows who these creatures are whom you say are coming, and at any rate they may not be coming today."

"They're coming today, Gonff, I know it." Martin replied, his voice filled with certainty, though the mousethief could detect just a hint of fear in his best friend's voice.

"Well, mate, if they do come, come inside, will you?"

Martin looked at his best friend, stopping his pacing for a moment and smiling genuinely for the first time Gonff could remember. "Trust me, Gonff, I'll be inside soon after they get here."

Gonff nodded his gratitude, and then hurried down the wallsteps, anxious to get in out of the cold.

* * *

"Well? Is he coming inside?"

"'Fraid not, m'dear." Gonff replied, taking off the cloak he had been wearing and hanging it up on the hook that he had taken it from. "He still claims he's waiting for some creatures to arrive."

Columbine sighed wearily, looking out the window and out at the wall. "Do you think he's all right?"

"I think he's scared." Gonff replied, nervousness creeping into his own voice. "I don't think he knows whether or not they're actually coming, whoever they are."

Just then they heard a shout of delight, and both Gonff and Columbine looked out the window. Martin was racing down the wallsteps and heading for the main gate. As soon as he reached it, he threw the great wooden doors wide. Then he raced for the abbey.

Gonff headed for the door, but leapt neatly aside as Martin swept through the door. The warriormouse looked vastly different then he had before. His storm-grey eyes were blazing with a fire that neither Gonff nor Columbine could remember seeing before. He had a broad, crooked grin on his face, and he looked vastly younger than he had before.

"Matey, they're coming!" Martin laughed, picking up his mousethief friend and racing outside, chucking Gonff into the pond. Columbine tried to cover her laughter with a paw, but she couldn't help it. Then she stepped out of the abbey and walked over to the pond, intending on helping her husband out.

Martin, meanwhile, was standing in front of his gatehouse, waiting anxiously for 'them' to come. It wasn't long before the sound of creatures walking and talking along the path could be heard by anybeast in the abbey. Martin, no longer to contain his nervous energy, raced for the gate and stood in the middle of it, an enormous grin on his face. Then he cupped his paws around his mouth and roared, "FUURRR ANNND FREEEDOMMM! Welcome, Noonvalers, to Redwall!"

The warrior's shout was returned by a strong, resonant voice that seemed to boom from the mob of creatures that had just become visible. "Is that you, Martin the warrior, son of Luke?"

"Aye, Brome the healer, son of Urran Voh!" Martin bellowed back. "Come in, all of you! All are welcome here!"

A few moments passed, during which Martin moved out of the way. Then a great mob of creatures flooded in through the gates, jostling shoving each other, yet none of them were running.

As the Noonvalers filed through the gates, Martin noted that one mousemaid had stayed back, looking around for something or somebeast. A grin spread slowly over the warriormouse's face, and he slipped quietly through the crowd towards the maid.

"Looking for somebeast?" he asked her the moment he was beside her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in fright, spinning around to face him. "I-Oh my seasons!"

Martin chuckled and opened his arms wide. "That's all you can say after twenty seasons, Rose? I'm disappointed. I was hoping for a hug."

Rose looked up at him curiously, then grinned as she stepped forward into his embrace, hugging him at the same time. They fell silent for a moment, enjoying each other's company. Then the maid breathed, "I missed you, Martin."

"I missed you too." Martin's voice was quiet, calm, and warm, contrasting the excitement he had been expressing a few minutes before. Then he pulled away from Rose, looking her up and down. "You've changed a lot." he commented.

Rose laughed. "Well, Martin, that tends to happen after twenty seasons. You've changed too."

"I hope I've changed for the better."

Rose noted a twinge of sadness in the warrior's voice. "Martin, you weren't that bad. Yes, you did have a temper and no, you didn't always think everything through, but you were exactly how you were needed to be in that time. I was too. I don't want to hear you degrading yourself. I won't have it!"

Rose looked like she was going to say more, but the warrior chuckled and spoke up before she could. "Rose, your personality hasn't changed much, no matter how much your outside has. Let's not get into something like this right now, hmm? We just came back together. Come on, I'll show you around my new home." He draped an arm around her shoulders and began to walk away, but Rose stood still, looking at the arm he had draped around her. "What's wrong?" Martin asked.

"Your arm." she replied, looking up at him. "It's too high."

Martin blinked at the strange statement. "What?"

"Your arm's too high up, Martin." Rose repeated. "It needs to be lower."

"Oh." Martin hesitated, then dropped his arm to about her midsection. "Is that better?" he asked.

"No, it's still too high."

Martin lowered his arm until he was holding her against himself by her waist. He looked at her questioningly, and she smiled. "Perfect."

The warriormouse wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but he didn't say anything as he lead the mousemaid away to show her around Redwall.

Nobeast noticed them as they walked away, not even Gonff, who was looking for Martin and trying desperately to find him.

While the whole reason behind this visit was unknown to even Martin, the reason for the bustle in the abbey kitchens was known even to the Noonvalers: it was nearly time for the harvest feast, which was one of the biggest feasts that Redwall held. The majority of the Redwall cooks were stuck in the kitchen for most of the day. Columbine would have been in there too, had Gonff not insisted that she stay out so that she could spend time with her family. Right now, though, spending time with her family was not her main focus. Martin was missing.

Martin had been acting so strangely, so differently from his usual self, that Gonff and Columbine were very concerned. Now Martin had disappeared, which caused them to worry all the more.

As she was looking for the mousewarrior, Columbine had an idea. After all, Martin had been acting strangely because he had been waiting for these new creatures to come, so why not ask them if they had an idea of where he could be.

The anxious mousewife approached the apparent leader of the group, Brome. "Er...you wouldn't happen to have seen our mousewarrior, have you?"

Brome looked at her and chuckled. "Well, no, I haven't, miss. Have you seen my sister?"

"...I don't know who your sister is." Columbine pointed out, looking rather confused.

"Well, I do." Brome chuckled. "And because I know her, I have a feeling I know where Martin is, too."

Columbine raised a brow. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Brome chuckled and patted the mousewife's shoulder. "It means, miss, that your Martin and my sister are undoubtedly together, spending some quality time with each other. Possibly romantic quality time, if you catch my meaning." Brome winked at Columbine.

There was a strange expression on the mousewife's face. "Is she his wife?" she asked nervously.

"What? Oh, no, no!" Brome answered hastily, laughing as he did so. "No, not that kind of romance. Although I'm sure that both of them want that eventually, I don't think either of them would take it that far while they're unmarried."

"Oh." Columbine rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Er...so I probably shouldn't be trying to find them, should I?"

Brome chuckled again and shook his head. "No, I don't think they would appreciate the intrusion. Is anybeast else looking for him?"

"Well, there's my husband, I suppose, but I could tell him not to bother looking. As far as I know, he and I are the only ones looking."

"Ah, good." Brome replied. "Now, I don't mean to be rude, but could you direct us to the dormitories, please? Most of us are very exhausted."

Columbine nodded, noticing some of the Noonvalers were already half-asleep. "Thank you, miss."

"My name is Columbine." the mousewife smiled, extending a paw.

"Brome. Good to meet you." the healer replied, shaking her offered paw with a smile.

Columbine's smile brightened in return. "Good to meet you too, Brome. Now, come with me."

* * *

Gonff was still looking for Martin, and was not having much luck. Everywhere he went, the warrior was nowhere to be found.

The gatehouse had been the first place he searched. The door had been open, and Martin hadn't been there. The next place Gonff had looked was in the kitchens; the mousewarrior often looked there for work if he was bored. Nobeast there had seen him, though, so Gonff had been forced to search elsewhere.

Currently, Gonff was in the orchards, which were a large part of the abbey and would take him a while to search. He'd already looked in most of the places that Martin normally spent time in: the outskirts, where the mousewarrior usually helped with the harvest; the section reserved for willow trees and hammocks, where the warrior could often be found in one of the hammocks, swinging away, usually lost in thought; and the entirity of the portion of the orchard closest to the wall, where Martin often spent time looking for stray pieces of fruit that had escaped the harvesters. He had yet to search the center of the orchards, but he doubted Martin was there. After all, not much was there but trees.

It was as he began heading for the center that he noticed Columbine taking Brome and the majority of the visitors up to the dormitories. He broke into a trot, deciding to ask her if she had found Martin after all. By the time he caught up with her, she was in the middle of guiding everybeast who needed it into a dormitory room. Gonff waited patiently until everybeast was settled, and then he approached his wife. "Have you had any luck, M'dear?" he asked nervously. "I haven't been able to find him anywhere."

"Who? Oh, Martin. No, I haven't found him, but I'm not looking for him anymore."

"Why not?" Gonff asked, surprised. "Aren't you concerned that he's mysteriously disappeared?"

"Well, I was, but then I talked to Brome, the leader of those visitors who Martin were waiting for. He told me that his sister was missing, too, and that, if he knew his sister and Martin, they'd both be together somewhere and not likely to be too pleased if they were disturbed. I stopped worrying, knowing that Martin was probably with somebeast."

"Why wouldn't they want to be disturbed?" Gonff asked, genuinely curious. The idea of Martin being with a maid in any way other than friendly never even entered his head.

"Well, if you and I were alone together, we wouldn't want to be disturbed either." Columbine pointed out, though she was careful when she did so. "I don't think that they would want it for quite the same reason, but you get my meaning, I hope."

Gonff cocked his head at his wife, a confused expression on his face. "Are you saying they're spending romantic time together? You know how Martin is about courtship, and how he avoids it at all costs!"

"Well, maybe this maid is different." Columbine countered, her voice still calm and gentle. "We just don't know, and it's better not to speculate about that sort of thing."

Gonff sighed, shaking his head. "I just hope he's okay."

"He's Martin, Gonff!" Columbine laughed. "Of course he's okay."

* * *

Martin certainly was okay, and, if he had known that Gonff had been looking for him, he would have been extremely grateful that his best friend had not searched the center of the orchards, because that was exactly where he was. More specifically, he was smack dab in the middle, hanging up a hammock between two fruit trees. Rose was standing nearby, curiously looking at what the mousewarrior was doing. After a moment or two more of watching him, she suddenly understood why he was doing this. Sidling up to him, she murmured, "You really want to cuddle now, Martin? I'm not complaining, but you told me that the feast was in another few hours."

"That I did." Martin chuckled, tying the last knot on the hammock and beckoning for Rose to crawl in. "And that it does. Still, that gives us several hours before the feast to cuddle."

"But it's so cold!" Rose exclaimed, even though she was crawling into the hammock.

Martin chuckled and pulled the cloak off his back, draping it over the maid once she had settled into the hammock. "Well, we'll be nice and warm together, won't we?"

With that, he crawled into the hammock next to Rose, pulled the cloak over himself, and then pulled the mousemaid close to him. Smiling, he planted a kiss on the top of her head.

Rose was smiling too, enjoying the warmth and strength of the warrior's embrace. She shivered a little and snuggled closer to him, drawing the cloak slightly tighter around herself as well. Martin looked down at her, still smiling. "Well, Rose, I suppose I have a question to ask you."

Rose gave him a funny look. "Marriage, Martin? Now?"

The warrior laughed and gave Rose a squeeze. "No, no, Rose, not that question! Not yet, anyway." Martin chuckled. "I wanted to ask you if you would like to let me be your suitor."

"Oh..." Rose looked to the side, obviously embarrassed by the question. "Er...I...I...y-yes, I...I would like you to court...court me." She looked up at him then, smiling nervously. He smiled back and touched the tip of her snout with his own.

"Thank you." he murmured, his storm grey eyes burning softly.

"Does that really mean a lot to you, Martin?" Rose asked, genuine curiousity in her eyes.

"No, Rose," he replied, pulling her a little closer. "_you_ mean that much to me. I'll take as close a relationship to you as I can get."

The light of affection shone in Rose's eyes as she stretched up and kissed Martin's cheek. "Well, then I won't let you stop until you're my husband, Martin. I don't want you far away from me, either. If you don't want to be my husband, I'll drag you up to Noonvale and have Papa perform the ceremonies himself!"

The warrior chuckled and gave the maid another squeeze. "That won't be necessary, Rose. If you want me to marry you, I will. I just want to make sure it's a proper courtship, first."

"Mmm." Rose sighed, burying her snout in her new suitor's neckfur. "As long as I get to flirt with you."

Martin couldn't help but raise a brow. "Oh, you want to flirt with me? I suppose you can..." Then his face broke into a broad grin, and he finished, "...as long as I can flirt with you back."

The maid giggled as he buried his snout in her neckfur. Then she burst out laughing quite suddenly. "Oh, Martin! Hahahahahaha! St-stop it! Hahahahaha!" As the warriormouse had been nuzzling her, he had begun to tickle her. Peals of helpless laughter rang out as Rose was tortured by her suitor.

Gonff and Columbine heard it as they were walking back into Great Hall. Confused for a moment, both looked around, trying to find the source of the laughter. Then Columbine grinned and winked at her husband. "I'll wager that's Martin and Rose. Wonder what they're up to?"

Gonff raised a brow and looked over into the orchards. "You actually think Martin would be with a maid, don't you?"

"Well, I think it's a possibility." his wife replied, looking at him with an amused gleam in her eyes. "After all, he's a creature of flesh and blood, no matter what any of the stories may say. Perhaps this maid is the exception to his rule, much like you were the exception to my rule."

Gonff still looked skeptical. "I don't know, m'dear...after all, it is Martin." The mousethief fell silent, took his wife's paw, and they both sped up. It was too cold for them to discuss anything further.

* * *

The feast itself was magnificent, the harvest this season having been one of the most plentiful since the abbey was built. The storehouses were filled to the brim, and there was still an incredible amount of food left over. It was this that had been made into the feast.

In Great hall there was a bustling of activity. The extra tables were being brought out to accommodate the Noonvalers, and it soon became clear that Great Hall would be fuller than it had ever been. The cooks thought that it was a good thing that there were so many extra creatures. After all, there was so much food that even hares would be filled.

Grumm trundled into the kitchens, his ladle swung over his shoulder like a spear might have been. He looked around, bewildered by the bustle of activity. Then his eyes locked on a cauldron that was empty and lying off to the side. Smiling nonchalantly to himself, he made his way through the bustle, picked the cauldron up, carried it over to a fire pit, lit the fire and hung the cauldron over it. Soon he had water in the cauldron and was boiling it.

Amid the smells and sights of the kitchen, Grumm and his soup were almost completely unnoticable. He tossed in carrots, beetroots, cabbage, and a few other vegetables, then found some thyme, parsley, and chopped garlic, which he eagerly put into the cauldron. It wasn't very long before the soup was simmering quite nicely and needed little attention. Grumm then took the time to begin to make his little flour caks that he had invented back during Marshank. There was a plethora of fruits and nuts to put into the cakes, and the mole was lavish with them. Plums, peaches, almonds, cherries, pears, and walnuts were all mixed in to the cakes. He placed them in an oven and then went back to his soup, stirring it and adding a few spices here and there when he felt it was right.

He was among the slower cooks in the kitchen; most everybeast else was in an enormous rush. Nobeast wanted to have their dishes left out of this feast.

A few hours later, the Noonvalers who had gone to sleep were awakened, and they were led to Great Hall. Martin and Rose had reappeared as well, and had joined everybeast in Great Hall. Martin took his normal seat, and made sure that his maid was able to sit next to him. Gonff, who had been kicked out of the kitchen due to his food-pinching and had been sitting in the Hall for more than an hour, noted this with some surprise. Then he remembered Columbine's words about Martin being with a maid. "Well," he muttered to himself, "if this is the maid he's decided to be with, I don't blame him."

Indeed, as Rose walked by the heads of many male mice turned and followed her as she walked to her seat and sat down. Martin noticed this and he edged himself a little closer to the maid, immediately establishing that she was his and nobeast else's. It was an unexpected move on his part, but it soon became apparent as to why he had made that move. The moment food was served, Rose began accepting various dishes and paw-feeding them to Martin, shoving this and that in his face until he ate it. It was plain to anybeast watching, however, that Martin was enjoying himself, a sight that, while not uncommon, was unusual in that he was enjoying himself with a maid. Nobeast bothered him about it though, nor dared to intrude upon his communion with the maid. The way he had possesively brought himself closer to her had made the consequences of an action such as that very clear.

The feast lasted well into the night, a tremendous amount of food being consumed. The cooks labored away for many hours further during the feast until they too could sit down and enjoy the magnificent meal they had created. There were piping hot flans, pies, cakes; cheeses with nuts, herbs, and vegetables; trifles, scones, pasties, and much, much more. There seemed to be no end to the food.

Some creatures, Martin and Rose included, snuck away after eating more than their fill, though none of them were missed. Everybeast was focused on eating and loosening their belts, not wanting to miss any of the food, celebrations, or ale.

* * *

_A/N: Yes, I'm working on _Shadow of Death _and _Perseverance_, but I've hit a little writers block. As for this story, I'm sorry I took so long uploading it. I'll try to get the Christmas special up on time, but that will be quite hard. I have determined that the Christmas special will be a multi-parter, so...hehehe...cheese puffs._

_I'm sorry. I'm random._

_Then again, you knew that, didn't you._

_As always, R&R, good reading, and Volumptuous Gumdrops._

_Edit: Perhaps I should have added more backstory. The whole story is premised on Martin knowing that Rose is alive, though the method that he found out about her shall be left to the readers speculation (though I know how he did it, and I shall gleefully keep that a secret)._


End file.
